Children's high chairs and trays for use with such high chairs are well known in the art. High chairs are primarily used to seat an infant or child too small to be seated in conventional chairs. The tray should be sufficiently secured to the chair so that the child's weight against the tray cannot inadvertently release the tray from the chair. At the same time, the tray should be removable in order to facilitate placing the child in the chair and subsequently removing the child from the chair. The tray provides a surface on which food, toys, etc. can be placed. Thus, the tray should be large enough to provide a large surface area, but at the same time the tray should not be so large so as to prevent a person located in front of the high chair from easily reaching the child seated in the chair. The tray also catches food, liquids, etc. which are spilled on it. Hence, the tray should be designed to contain such spills. In addition, the tray provides a convenient resting place for the child's arms. Therefore, the tray should accommodate the arms of a child in a comfortable manner.
The prior art discloses high chair trays of numerous shapes and sizes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,540,685 issued Feb. 6, 1951 to Mayer; 2,684,110 issued July 20, 1954 to Stone and 4,364,576 issued Dec. 21, 1982 to Kassai all show square or rectangular trays with rounded corners. It would be advantageous to use a chair that is not simply rounded at the corners but in which the outer periphery is a portion of a circle. This would provide a number of advantages. For instance, with a tray whose shape is that of a portion of a circle, the area of the tray can be increased with a relatively small corresponding increase in the distance between a child seated in the chair and the outer periphery of the tray. This is important because when a high chair is in use a child is typically seated in the chair and an adult sits or stands near the outer periphery of the tray to feed or play with the child. As a result, the distance between the outer periphery and the seated child can be kept to a minimum while the total surface area of the tray can be maximized. In addition, when the outer periphery of a tray is shaped as a portion of a circle, the distance from the child to all points on the outer periphery is nearly equal. Therefore, an adult seated at any location on the outer periphery is at a convenient distance from a child. This is not true when trays are square or rectangular in shape, even if the corners are rounded.
Another convenient feature which has been incorporated in prior art high chair trays is a raised periphery. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,540,685; 2,684,110 and 4,364,576, cited above). This raised periphery or rim contains food and liquids spilled on the tray and helps to prevent spills from landing on the floor. However, the raised periphery can be uncomfortable for the child sitting in the chair. When the child rests his or her arms or elbows on the tray, the child encounters this raised rim which can cause discomfort. If the raised periphery were eliminated at that portion of the tray where the child rests his arms, spills onto the tray could run onto the child or the floor, thus defeating the purpose of the raised periphery. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a tray designed to contain spills and yet where the comfort of the child in resting his or her arms upon the tray is provided for.
Various means to removably attach a tray to a high chair have been disclosed in the prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,118,509 issued May 24, 1938 to Heinritz and 2,505,490 issued Apr. 25, 1950 to Greenbaum both disclose means for removably attaching a tray to a high chair, and with such means being operable with one hand. in general these mechanisms address the desirable feature of removing a tray from a high chair with one hand, while leaving the other hand free to carry the infant or child to be seated in the high chair.
Another feature desirable in a high chair tray is adjustability toward or away from a child seated in the chair. Although U.S. Pat. No. 2,505,490 recognizes the benefits of a high chair tray which is removable with one hand and yet is securely attached to the high chair, so that the weight of a child pushing against a tray will not cause the tray to disengage from the chair, it does not address this problem during the critical period when the tray is being adjusted toward or away from the child. Stated in another way, the mechanism shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,505,490 is such that when the tray is being adjusted, it is not in any way secured to the chair. U.S. Pat. No. 2,118,509 suffers from this same disadvantage.
Therefore, even though an adult is typically holding onto the tray with one hand to adjust it, a child already seated in the chair may push against the tray causing it to become disengaged from the chair. It would be advantageous not only to have a tray which is removable and adjustable with one hand, but also one which is secured to the chair while the tray is being adjusted toward or away from the child.
The latching mechanism, which secures the tray to the chair and allows the tray to be adjusted in a horizontal direction, should not present any sharp edges or any connections where the child's legs could be pinched or injured while the child is seated in the chair. In both U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,118,509 and 2,505,490, the latching mechanisms on the underside of the tray are exposed thereby possibly creating dangerous "pinch points," which could cause injury to a child.
Another problem associated with latching mechanisms of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,118,509 and 2,505,490 is the manner in which the tray is secured to the chair. Typically, the tray is supplied with spring biased engagement means such as pegs or teeth, which are urged into corresponding engagement means located on the arms of the chair, such as holes for the pegs, or corresponding teeth. In order to provide for adjustment of the tray in a horizontal direction, a plurality of engagement means are provided at various positions along the arm so that the tray may be positioned closer to or further from the back of the chair. This type of latching mechanism suffers from a number of disadvantages. As already mentioned, the tray must be disengaged from the chair in order to allow for adjustment. This can be unsafe. Another disadvantage is that the horizontal adjustment must be re-done each time the tray is removed from the chair. In other words, the prior art adjustable trays do not automatically return to the same position each time the tray is removed then replaced on the chair. Yet another disadvantage is that prior art engagement means located on the chair tend to be small in size and careful alignment is required in order to secure the tray to the chair. It would be advantageous to provide: (1) a latching mechanism that remains secured to the chair while the tray is adjusted in a horizontal direction, (2) a latching mechanism that incorporates a "memory" feature which allows the tray to return to the same position relative to the chair each time it is removed and replaced, and (3) engagement means of a larger size so that alignment between the tray and the engagement means or attachment area of the high chair arm is easily accomplished when the tray is secured to the chair.